Falcon Park

Put Falcon Park on wet or muddy ground and you are looking at a completely different animal. Two wins from just 6 races in those conditions works out at 33%, meaning this horse wins roughly 1 in every 3 times the ground is soft. In a sport where most horses win far less often than that, a 1-in-3 record on wet ground is the kind of stat that makes trainers check the weather forecast with genuine interest. Dry, fast ground is a different story — the wins dry up almost entirely.

The yard behind the horse is trained by John Joseph Hanlon out of Bagenalstown in County Carlow, and it has been a productive season, with 11 winners sent out so far. Niall Prendergast has ridden Falcon Park more than anyone else, and their partnership has produced 2 wins from 13 races together — a win rate of 15%, or roughly 1 in every 7 rides. That is meaningfully better than the horse's overall average, which suggests the combination works.

The career only got going relatively late — the first win did not arrive until July 2024 at Wexford, which is a long time to wait across a career that had already seen plenty of racing. The most recent win came at Clonmel in January 2025, now 15 months ago, and the last 6 races have not produced a victory, with a ninth and an eleventh the best visible finishes in that run. Falcon Park raced just one day ago, so the search for a return to form is very much ongoing.

At ten years old and with a career earning that reflects a horse competing at a solid but unspectacular level, Falcon Park is not a headline act. But for anyone watching on a wet day when Niall Prendergast is booked to ride, this is a horse worth keeping an eye on.